Official Game Thread: Mavericks at Hawks

[NBASupes]

6 hours ago, benhillboy said:

Hawks don’t apply any pressure on passers and are totally disconnected from a communication standpoint.  A gang of cut baskets, coast to coast layups, open threes, and dribble drive layups will usually result.  That’s literally everything the opposing offense wants smh.

I’ve never watched a defense this bad on a nightly basis but it is almost fascinating.   I didn’t watch the Lon Kruger era but I imagine this is what it was like.  Sh*t is disheartening, especially when Trae is finally giving real effort on that end.

I watched the Lon Kruger era and that was some of the worst coaching I've ever seen but the biggest similarities to Quin and Lon is trying to fit square pegs in round holes. 

[NBASupes]

2 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Luka is starting to remind me of Melo. Individual accolades. Not much team success, ever really.

Lol what?  Sometimes ya'll come off as real haters on here. 

[Chrimturn]

Through all the injuries this year and the team chemistry becoming more cancerous by the game, they are really only 2 players away from having different outcomes in these close games.  1 big who can consistently catch and score…and 1 lock down defender.

Sure, there are other areas of weakness but those are two facets that contribute to The Achilles Heel almost every game.

[Chrimturn]

Drive to the basket, go up for the shot, bring the ball back down, try a “wrap around the defender pass” underneath to someone who’s not ready for the ball (CC), fumbles it and goes out of bounds.

Then there’s Bob once again getting excited, “ONYEKA!!!!”, then calmly continues, “can’t finish”.

Luka gets near 35 a game.  We knew he was getting 40 against us before the game even started.  Show of hands…who had a conversation with somebody  and said, “chit, he’ll probably go for 50 tonight”.  

Whole game Nique is like, “They can’t give him that much space Bob.”  17 out of their 27 in the 1st.  By the 10:00 mark in the 2nd, hawks lead 38-32, Luka up to 23.  Nique again, “Just too easy for him, Bob.   They can’t allow him that much space.”  Ends the half with 41.

Team defense is a whole other story.  But just give me 1 guy.  1 guy that’ll step up and say, “Ah uh, not in my house”.

[Spud2nique]

50 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Lol what?  Sometimes ya'll come off as real haters on here. 

yes we should learn to not hate like you  

You’re the biggest one in here brah

[kg01]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

Yea that's right, go Hawks!

You know me better than to assume I'm just cape-ing for the Hawks.... I hope. 

[kg01]

1 hour ago, NBASupes said:

Lol what?  Sometimes ya'll come off as real haters on here. 

It's not completely out of left field.  Not speaking for @Spud2nique but a lot of people feel Donc is a bit of a me-first, numbers guy as Melo was considered to be.

[kg01]

8 hours ago, benhillboy said:

Hawks don’t apply any pressure on passers and are totally disconnected from a communication standpoint.  A gang of cut baskets, coast to coast layups, open threes, and dribble drive layups will usually result.  That’s literally everything the opposing offense wants smh.

I’ve never watched a defense this bad on a nightly basis but it is almost fascinating.   I didn’t watch the Lon Kruger era but I imagine this is what it was like.  Sh*t is disheartening, especially when Trae is finally giving real effort on that end.

Hillbilly, are we finally in agreement that Trae is the best defender on the team right now?

It's not a good thing but folks can't blame him for this defensive debacle anymore. 

[terrell]

11 hours ago, NBASupes said:

It isn't though. It's just a bad post. Trae don't got any in between game. That's his problem. He's all bells and whistles but he got no real engineering to him. It's hard to win with a player like that. I always prefer Horford. He's got no bells and whistles but you know his engineering is elite. It's built to make everything else better. Horford is 3M. Trae is an OG fitbit. That shit can do everything but it can't last for shit.

Product development is lacking with Trae but man, I want that fitbit. Whereas, who really wants Ole reliable 3M products but they make life a lot easier. 

Its either a 3 or a floater.. Or a drive in the lane to get blocked.. smh

Easy to defend when his shot is off

[AUhawksfan]

12 hours ago, NBASupes said:

At some point, ya'll just gotta except I am generally always right. Even when I am wrong, I am likely right around the corner.

Man, the Hawks should hire you as GM or coach since you’re never wrong and essentially perfect at basketball decisions. Did you mention this to your sources?

 

[AHF]

MODERATOR COMMENT:

Knock off the commentary on other posters. Everyone has the right to praise or to criticize any member of our Hawks and you have the right to push back on the merits or to ignore them — not to call them haters or stans or not real fans or not educated on the game, etc.  Trust me that the mods are aware when there are patterns of posters only posting about someone after a good or bad game but even if that person just hates or loves that certain player they can still share their thoughts as long as they are respectful of others.  So don’t come in going “lol the lovers of player X still can’t admit he sucks” or “these people who criticize player X aren’t real fans” etc.  There is a bunch of that from both sides on this thread.  None of it has a place here.  I’m hoping to avoid spending my Saturday pruning the comments like that from the basketball comments so am asking people to redirect the conversation back to the Hawks and away from other posters.

[bleachkit]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

It's not completely out of left field.  Not speaking for @Spud2nique but a lot of people feel Donc is a bit of a me-first, numbers guy as Melo was considered to be.

He's averaging 34.6 points per game, 8.6 rebounds per game, and 9.2 assists game on 49.2% from the field and 38.1% from three. His win shares is 7th in the NBA, his VORP is 3rd in the NBA. Melo could only dream of having such a season.

[terrell]

12 hours ago, NBASupes said:

Caleb and Trae isn't a bad comparison at all. Both are boom or bust. Just that Caleb is the most talented QB I've ever seen but his flaws are critical and like Trae, his personality ain't all that great. Both are short and people swear on them.

That said, Caleb could be the icing on the cake on a stacked squad but he could flop on a bad one. I wouldn't take him if I was Chicago. He don't have the personality

Kyler Murray is another.. He went to Oklahoma also...... Must be something in the water up there.. lol

I know players personally that couldnt stand him when they played with him in Arizona..

Edited January 27 by terrell

[terrell]

10 hours ago, Sothron said:

I wasn't hollering about mods. I said I wasn't going to give them extra work to do by going after these fake ass fans that only show up on this board after a loss. Can't stand 'em. I don't want the mods to have to come in here and play peacekeeper over it. That's what I was saying.

Like?

[terrell]

5 hours ago, BrazilianHawk said:

It's worse than that. They actually picked the right guy, then did away with him. 

 

ONLY THE HAWKS. 

[AHF]

On Luka and Trae both are great players.  Luka is better.  Such is life.  I wanted Luka and was pissed we passed on him but that is spilled milk at this point.  I don’t get the fixation on this.  There are no backsies in basketball so it seems like this is just wasted time.  We took Allen Iverson when Kobe Bryant was on the board.  (I’m not comparing the specific players just that we passed on a better player and got one that is still very good).  We aren’t alone in that kind of mistake.  The only relevance I see is the discussion around whether this was dictated by Ressler because he is still part of the FO and decision making process.  Otherwise it really isn’t relevant in 2024.  [This post is not made as a moderator and is not asking people to stop discussing the topic as a moderator.  Just voicing my personal $.02 on the relevance of the topic.]

[Spud2nique]

2 hours ago, kg01 said:

It's not completely out of left field.  Not speaking for @Spud2nique but a lot of people feel Donc is a bit of a me-first, numbers guy as Melo was considered to be.

Melo of the West..

[Sothron]

45 minutes ago, terrell said:

Like?

not doing that. @AHF put his mod hat on already in this thread. not giving that man extra work. also would be classless of me to go after other posters. 

[bird_dirt]

I’m going to look at the bright side here. 
FINALLY we got cooked by an actual star, and not some rando role player. That’s progress, right?

[bleachkit]

42 minutes ago, bird_dirt said:

I’m going to look at the bright side here. 
FINALLY we got cooked by an actual star, and not some rando role player. That’s progress, right?

Baby steps...